Sun Communities Inc. expects above-average returns on its investment in the 10 RV parks it purchased earlier from Morgan RV Resorts as Sun evolves into a year-round operator of these lucrative properties.

Gary A. Shiffman, chairman and CEO of Southfield, Mich.-based Sun, updated the company’s progress on refurbishing the 10 former Morgan properties in the Northeast and Midwest during an investors’ conference callon Thursday (July 25) following release of its second-quarter results.

“Approximately 60% of the capital expenditures planned for the repositioning of the 10 ‘Morgan’ RV properties on the Eastern Seaboard have been completed. We are beginning to experience both positive feedback and results from residents who have begun to return to the communities since the opening of the season in June,” Shiffman stated.

In fact, the response by returning and new visitors has been “extremely positive,” Shiffman told investors, as the company updates the under-performing properties.

From a revenue perspective, the acquisitions make running RV parks a year-round business and removes the seasonality of the “snowbird” business predominately in Texas and Florida, which had boosted revenues during the first and fourth quarters but depressed them during the second and third, Shiffman said.

Besides updating virtually all of the 10 RV parks acquired from Morgan, Sun has installed new management at many of the parks, launched a new website which features a complete online reservation service, deployed a Facebook page for each park and relocated its call center from Florida to Southfield to guarantee that no call goes unanswered, he added.

He projects the return from the 10 parks will boost Sun revenues 7% to 9% over the next several years.

In addition to the Morgan parks, Sun bought two RV communities – one in New York and one in New Jersey – during the second quarter for $28.9 million, increasing the year-to-date total to 12 properties acquired for $140.9 million. One of the parks is located in Cape May Court House, N.J. and comprises 528 sites. The park in New York comprises 299 sites.

“The two recreational vehicle communities acquired during the second quarter fit well in the geographic footprint we have been establishing in the northeastern seaboard. We continue to remain actively engaged in reviewing acquisition opportunities of both manufactured housing and recreational vehicle communities,” said Shiffman.

Armed with $60 million in cash and $300 million in “additional liquidity,” Sun Communities Inc. is quickly expanding its footprint in the RV park and manufactured housing community industry.

Gary Shiffman, Sun’s chairman and CEO, briefly touched on the company’s expansion plan during an earnings conference call Thursday (April 25), following release of its first quarter financial report. In that report, Sun announced revenue of $103.38 million, and earnings of 93 cents per share.

Woodall’s Campground Management reported that Sunbeat Wall Street’s expectations, a positive sign to shareholders seeking high growth out of the company. The stock closed Thursday at $48.77 per share, down 6 cents, on volume of 171,707 shares.

“The company has grown dramatically while operating metrics continue to set new standards and records with each passing quarter,” Shiffman stated. For example, compared to the end of 2010, Sun’s holdings are up by 48 properties or 45% to 184 properties in 25 states, compared to 17 at the end of 2010, Shiffman noted.

“When we also consider the successful efforts to strengthen the balance sheet, we see a transformed company. Our primary goal now is to bring performance to the bottom line through 2013 and 2014,” he said.

Its RV park acquisitions over the past 18 months have fueled much of the company’s growth, Shiffman noted in the news release and later during the conference call monitored by more than 20 investors.

Sun has invested over $250 million in the acquisition and quality enhancements of RV communities in 18 months, the bulk of them coming in purchases from Morgan RV Resorts.

“Recent acquisitions have served to diversify the company geographically into new markets as well as to expand our commitment to recreational vehicle properties,” Shiffman stated in the news release. “While formerly limited to seasonal operations during the months of December through April primarily in our Southern Florida and Texas RV communities, our geographic footprint now extends north to Wisconsin and the Eastern Seaboard up to Maine where the RV season is opposite of the South, running from June through October. We’ve created a year-round business with complimentary northern and southern seasons which will provide more efficient and effective use of our staff, marketing and RV systems.”

In addition, just last week (after the quarter had ended), Sun paid $9.8 million for the Jellystone Park of Western New York, its first resort in New York state.

Based in Southfield, Mich., Sun is branding these destination resorts as “Sun RV Resorts” which will operate over 30 communities from Arizona to Maine to Wisconsin to Florida.

Sun Communities Inc. announced Thursday (Jan. 3) that it acquired two properties, Palm Creek Golf & RV resort and Lake in Wood. The two properties contain approximately 2,288 sites for a stated purchase price of $102.6 million, according to a news release.

Palm Creek Golf & RV resort is a 5-star institutional quality, age restricted resort with 1,863 sites located in Casa Grande, Ariz., just 40 minutes south of Phoenix. Sun communities acquired the resort and related improvements, personal property and associated intangibles for $70.4 million and a contiguous parcel of land being developed to add approximately 990 recreational vehicle, or approximately 550 manufactured housing sites, for $15 million.

Lake in Wood is a 5-star, 425-site family resort located in southwest Pennsylvania. It is rated best recreational vehicle resort in Pennsylvania and received Woodall’s/Good Sam Club’s highest and most exclusive rating of 30 out of 30. The purchase price of $14.6 million was paid in cash.

Sun Communities Inc. currently owns and operates a portfolio of 173 communities comprising approximately 63,600 developed sites.

According to a Reuters account, highlights for the three months ending June 30, 2012, included:

• Funds From Operations (FFO) excluding transaction costs incurred in connection with acquisition activity was 78 cents per share compared to 74 cents per share in the second quarter of 2011, an increase of 4 cents per share, or 5.4%.

• Same site net operating income increased by 5.9%.

• Home sales increased by 26.2% as compared to 2011.

• Revenue producing sites increased by 410 sites during the quarter bringing total portfolio occupancy to 86.8% as compared to 85% at June 30, 2011.

“Our business is strong and growing stronger. We are positioned well to increase both revenues and occupancy in the core portfolio and recent acquisitions. In 2013 we expect to reach an overall portfolio occupancy of 90%,” said Gary A. Shiffman, chairman and CEO. “Our commitment is to acquire properties to which we can continue to deploy management’s strengths and systems to generate additional long-term growth and value.”

Sun Communities Inc. announced Tuesday (Jan. 10) that it has priced an underwritten registered public offering of 4 million shares of its common stock at $35.50 per share. The sale will yield $142 million at the stated price.

As part of the offering, the company granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 600,000 shares of its common stock. The offering is expected to close on Jan. 17, subject to customary closing conditions, Thomson Reuters reported.

The company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to fund a portion of the purchase price of three recreational vehicle communities located in Florida that it agreed to acquire, as previously disclosed, and to repay outstanding debt. The company expects to use any remaining net proceeds of the offering to fund possible future acquisitions of properties and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Sun Communities Inc. is a real estate investment trust based in Southfield, Mich., that owns and operates RV parks and mobile home communities.

• Adjusted Funds from Operations excluding certain items described in this release was $0.74 per diluted share compared to $0.66 per share in the second quarter of 2010, an increase of $0.08 per share or 12.1%.

“The current quarter reflects continued occupancy improvement and solid operating fundamentals within the core portfolio, positively impacting same site NOI growth,” said Gary A. Shiffman, Chairman and CEO. “This quarter we closed on 19 communities and began work on six expansions in the Texas market. These developments, coupled with steady occupancy gains, in addition to our strengthened balance sheet, form a solid base for future growth” he added.

Sun Communities Inc., a Southfield, Mich.-based real estate investment trust (“REIT”) that owns and operates manufactured housing and recreational vehicle communities, announced that on June 23 it acquired 17 manufactured home communities and one recreational vehicle community.

According to a press release, the communities were acquire from certain entities controlled by Kentland Corp. for approximately $142.3 million. The company acquired the communities, personal property and other intangibles associated with the communities from Kentland.

The acquisition includes 191 manufactured homes and $3.5 million of chattel notes collateralized by manufactured homes. The 18 communities acquired are located in western Michigan and comprise 5,042 manufactured home sites and 281 recreational vehicle sites.

In connection with these transactions, Sun Communities assumed $52.6 million of existing debt, paid off $24.8 million of existing debt, issued $45.5 million of preferred OP units and paid $19.4 million in cash. The pay-off of existing debt was financed largely by $22.9 million of new debt on five of the Kentland communities and one other existing community, which bears a weighted average interest rate of 3.02% and has a weighted average maturity of 3.1 years.

Sun Communities, Inc. is a REIT that currently owns and operates a portfolio of 155 communities comprising approximately 53,500 developed sites.

Total revenues were $66.3 million, up $3 million or 4.8% over the second quarter of 2009.

Funds from Operations (“FFO”), excluding certain items, was $0.66 per diluted share, an increase of 6.5%.

Same Site Net Operating Income increased 3.4%.

Home sales increased 50.7%, from 270 units to 407 units.

“Our second quarter results continue to illustrate strong performance from our same site portfolio, home sales and revenue producing site metrics,” said Gary A. Shiffman, chairman and CEO. “Together these items produced a quarter-over-quarter increase in FFO of $0.04 per share which would have been even higher absent additional one-time expenses of $0.02 per share and dilution of $0.01 per Share from the issuance of common stock.”

“The performance of our Midwest portfolio continues to improve as our communities in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana gained over 100 sites for the second quarter in a row and produced over 200 of the home sales we recorded during the quarter, an improvement of nearly 67% from the same quarter last year,” added Shiffman.